no destination

no destination

I finished the dice man this morning and was contemplating what to read next. And then at 9 o’clock this morning the postman delivered an unexpected package. I opened it to find a book that I didn’t remember ordering. I opened the front cover and there was a note from my best friend Ed. The book is called No Destination an autobiography by Satish Kumar. From the back cover I see that this is the fascinating story of Satish Kumar – monk, peace activist, pilgrim extraordinaire, and ecological campaigner. And from one reader: ˜Satish Kumar is among the most important educators of the 20th century. His lifelong odyssey adds a compelling flesh and blood reality to the wisdom of the East.”

I don’t believe in coincidences so I accept that this book has literally arrived on my doorstep with an important message for me. And right away I was struck with inspiration from the very first paragraph in the book. I won’t butcher it by paraphrasing it. I’ll get to you as an excerpt:

“Before I was born, while my mother was still pregnant with me, she often had a dream – always the same one. A wise old man with a long beard was riding with her on the back of an elephant into a forest. He promised to take her to a land of gold and jewels. ˜Why are we on the back of an elephant?” mother asked. ˜Let’s go on horseback so we can arrive more quickly.” The wise man said, ˜I don’t know the way. Only the elephant knows the way.” Mother argued, ˜This is stupid. A horse is much more intelligent than an elephant.” The wise man replied, “It’s not a question of intelligence but a question of going the right way.” Mother’s dream always ended with her and the wise man riding on the elephant, never reaching their destination.